বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড
willingness to let us establish contact with Mujibur by talking to his defense attorney; the indication that substantial political autonomy would be granted to East Pakistanall of these, I am not saying they did them only because we urged them, but it is true that they were always done after we urged them.
But I don't want to speak for the Pakistan Government and claim that everything they did was as a result of our urging, but all of these action I have mentioned occurred after we recommended them.
Q. Do you feel that Madam Gandhi betrayed us?
Dr. KISSINGER I would not use such words.
Q. Did she give any indication that she would seek a peaceful solution and instead do something else?
Dr. KISSINGER. All I can say is we had no reason to believe that military action was that imminent and that we did not have some time to begin to work on a peaceful resolution.
Let me make it clear, we recognize that there was not an unlimited period of time, but it seemed to us that either they could have given us a timetable or one could have waited for the return to civilian rule which was only three week away, to see whether that would bring about a change in the situation by bringing to the forefront individuals less intimately connected with the events that brought about the difficulties.
Q. Henry, you said earlier that we have had contact with the Soviet Union, consultations with them on the problems there. Were they aware of our actions and the progress and the hopeful circumstances as time went along, from March up until the shooting started Friday?
Dr. KISSINGER. I think they were generally aware.
Q. Were they kept aware?
Dr. KISSINGER. Well, maybe not of every last move, but I think they were aware of our general approach.
Q. What was their attitude as far as it was given to us, can you tell us?
Dr. KISSINGER. They took a formal “hands-off attitude which may or may not have had the practical consequence of at least not discouraging what happened.
Q. What impact do you think the crisis will have on our relations with the Soviet Union now? Do you think it might have an impact on the President's trip to Moscow, for example?
Dr. KISSINGER. We believe that the basis of a peaceful evolution with the Soviet Union requires that both countries exercise great restraint in the many crisis areas around the world and that they both subordinate short-term advantages to the long term interests of peace.
